Iconic vs. Ruby Riot and ??
Like last time, Ruby came out without a partner and the match started as a handicap match. She started out well, but Billie and Peyton eventually got the upper hand on her, which led to Nikki Cross coming out from the crowd again to be Ruby’s partner. She ran wild on Iconic and survived the facebuster onto Peyton’s knee, before Ruby tagged herself back in and got the pin on Billie with the pele kick.

Recap of Lars Sullivan’s win over Oney Lorcan last week and Danny Burch preventing him from attacking Lorcan again after the match. Christie interviewed Lars at the Performance Center earlier in the day about Burch challenging him to a match. Sullivan claimed he was always in control of what he did, but his opponents should be afraid of his uncontrollable rage and Burch would need to be in control of his fear when facing him.

Strong was shown warming up backstage.

Cameras caught up with Zelina arriving at the arena and she was asked about Gargano’s rematch with Almas. She claimed Gargano was still mad about his little break-up with Ciampa and she knew how to play on his heart strings. She pointed out that she never touched Gargano at Takeover though, so Almas won fair and square and if that didn’t sit right with him, they’d gladly take the rematch and with every victory Almas would get closer to the NXT Title. The interviewer asked how she’d feel if Almas lost this time, which she didn’t really answer, saying Johnny’s lifeline to relevancy was dead.

Recap of Cole versus Young last week and a six man tag between Sanity and Undisputed Era was announced for two weeks time.

Aleister Black was supposed to face Lio Rush, in Rush’s NXT debut. During Black’s entrance though, Velveteen Dream hit the ring and jumped Rush, giving him the Purple Rainmaker elbow off the top, complete with hip swivel in Black’s direction. He dared Black to get in the ring with him, but when he did, Dream left. Black did his usual roll into the ring and sat crossed legged though, ignoring Dream, with Dream yelling at Black to acknowledge him (which was a little on the nose) and telling Black he was going to make him say his name as he left.

Kairi Sane vs. Aliyah
Aliyah got to look competitive here and looked pretty good in the process. Sane of course came back to get the win with the Insane Elbow.

McIntyre was shown backstage ahead of the main event.

NXT CHAMPIONSHIPDrew McIntyre (c) vs. Roderick Strong
Strong has a new, better intro to his entrance. The gentle piano part really didn’t fit. This got a good chunk of time, about half of the show was devoted to it and they delivered with a very good main event. It got a much better reaction crowd-wise than their first match did too, which helps. Drew was on top briefly, but Strong managed to gain the advantage out on the floor, with a back suplex on the ring steps. The match became more back and forth as it went on and really built into a worthy title match by the end. McIntyre hit an air raid crash off the second rope, but Strong got his foot on the rope before three. Strong then got in a flurry of offence and hit the Sick Kick for two. They ended up fighting to the outside, where McIntyre powerbombed Strong into the ring post. A Future Shock DDT and the Claymore then put Strong away.

McIntyre offered a handshake post match and Strong accepted. When he made it to the top of the ramp though, the Undisputed Era came out and Cole patted Strong on the back, saying something to him that wasn’t audible before the three of them left. The tease begins.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: McIntyre and Strong was one of the better NXT TV matches of the year and definitely worth your time. The rest of the show was fine, continuing a few things in simple ways, but the main event was the main meat and focus of the show.

NXT WEEK: Gargano versus Almas and Nikki Cross, Liv Morgan and Peyton Royce in a Qualfying Match for the fourway for the NXT Women’s Championship at Takeover.